Our Philosophy
Our team is committed to making the highest quality wine using traditional methods and approaches for the purest expression of Brunello di Montalcino d.o.c.g.
More concerned with quality and tradition than volume, we strive to make the best of each harvest given the parameters of the weather, microclimate, altitude, soil and terroir, understanding the issues to maximize outcome.
We are committed to ecologically and environmentally friendly business practices and a positive workplace. We promise to deliver a wine of exceptional character and quality to make the most of your enjoyment, be it at an event, a celebration, or a weekday dinner.
“Il Vino si Fa in Vigna”
Which is to say, we can’t make great wine from lesser grapes.
Agriculture
Il Palazzone practices agricoltura responsabile. We assess and analyze the factors that influence grape yield and quality throughout the growing season (soil, topography, microclimate, vine health, etc.). Our vineyards vary widely in terms of altitude, terroir and exposition, so a varied approach reflecting the differences of each parcel is necessary to ensure the health of the land and vines, and to preserve the unique variety of aromatic and flavor components.
We try whenever and wherever possible to follow organic practices, effecting manual operations and natural remedies. While these choices are nearly always more expensive, il vino si fa in vigna – wine is made in the vineyard – and our commitment to responsible stewardship of the land contributes significantly to the high quality of our wines.
As part of that responsible stewardship, our vines are tended almost exclusively by hand with minimal treatments, and we make every effort to consistently replenish the soil and the ecosystem as well as the vines. Through aggressive canopy management, we protect the vines and the fruit throughout the growing season. Green harvest happens as needed - sometimes early in the season as well as closer to harvest. You will find flowers, butterflies, ladybugs, earthworms and all manner of other creatures in our vineyard. On occasion we have even started a bug war to restore order. We continue to experiment with cover crops – primarily leguminous plants such as lupins and fava beans rich in nitrogen and potassium - which are then plowed into the earth to enrich and fertilize the soil. Cover crops have many positive aspects: reducing erosion, improving water absorption and increasing soil organic matter, all of which enhances soil structure. Ideally, this method also leads to improved erosion control and increased soil carbon sequestration.
Winemaking
Creating wine is a delicate mixture of art and science, each vintage a unique combination of weather, soil, grapes and luck. Careful attention to the development of the fruit on the vine is always followed by careful attention to the development of the fruit in the cellar.
Our wines are reflective of their season, their soil and their climate and each tells its own tale of the individual vintage.
Harvest and WineMaking
Vendemmia
We prune, green harvest and select our grapes on the vine throughout the year so as to have the best possible selection for each vintage. We pick by hand using small 16 kg crates to keep the grapes in peak condition when they reach the sorting tables. The maximum yield allowed for the production of Brunello di Montalcino d.o.c.g. is 8.000 kg per hectare, however due to our rigorous selection process, we rarely reach that yield. Our grapes are sorted first on the stem in cluster form and then individually to maximize quality control prior to fermentation. Some grapes are vinified in cluster form while others are vinified in berry form to best reflect the characteristics of the vintage.
Fermentation
Fermentation takes place in 20 or 41 hL cement tanks or 50 hL wood barrels. Because each vineyard is primarily vinified separately, we can determine the optimal tank or barrel for each lot of grapes given the characteristics and volume of that particular fruit. When choosing the appropriate vessel, cement tanks offer increased structure opportunities that can give the grapes a scaffolding to construct a wine of complexity and elegance during their aging time in wood, while the micro-oxygenation inherent in the wood can contribute increased aromatic and tannin stability. The best method for each lot depends entirely upon the grapes that arrive in the cellar and will be different for each harvest.
Aging
Traditional aging times for Brunello are our benchmark, and our wine usually receives twenty-five to forty months in wood (two years required by the DOCG regulations), to be released in January of the fifth year after harvest. While we do not sort for a Riserva, preferring to ensure that some of the best grapes are in each bottle of Brunello, when something extraordinary happens in the cellar, we will offer that special cask as a Riserva. These wines are aged an extra year prior to release. All Il Palazzone wines are created with a long bottle life in mind, promising to mature and improve over the years.
